The disciple who follows his guru’s orders and teachings, rather than imitating his actions and practices, will never be deprived of his guru’s mercy. Rather than taking the Āṣvinī Kumāra’s advice to imitate the actions of his guru, Upamanyu followed his guru’s order. He refused to eat the healing cake without his guru’spermission.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pathi Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that—"Those who are the flag holder of Bhagavat Dharma, their acharan can lead all bonded soul into more and more bonded condition." Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinod Thākura...
Do not hear hari-kathā from a man having no acharan. If you all have shortage of acharan, then do not go for hari-kathā preaching, just close the door to preach hari-kathā in front of yourself.
The devotees are ever engaged in the service of God. No tendency towards anything else, no other thought or deed besides that service, finds any opportunity to cast its shadow over the souls of those bhakti-yogīs, who are incessantly communing with God and are entirely dedicated to Him.
One who undertakes the pilgrimage of Sree Nabadwipdham with the conviction and in pursuance of the method of the empiric historian and antiquarian, will certainly enrich the range of his worldly experience which he values. But he will miss the spiritual end which is declared by the Scriptures to be attainable by the performance of the journey under the guidance of the sadhus.
If even after our initiation by the real spiritual preceptor we continue to stick to our home interests as our principal function and attened to matha interests as something secondary, then we are far away from a glimpse of even the threshold of the sphere of our eternal good…
If the jeeva wants to serve Godhead according to his own judgment his inclination is nothing less than a form of unwillingness to serve at all. Because he must know very well that the guidance of the Plenary Potency is identical with that of Godhead Himself. It is; therefore, imperatively necessary to prevent any possible misconception of the difference that separates the jeeva from Godhead and His Proper Agent in Her Benign Undeluding Aspect. The jeeva is no servant of Godhead except by permission which has to be earned by a disposition of active loyalty in obeying unconditionally the Guidance of the Spiritual Potency.
The real preceptor can hardly be popular in this world. Worldly people, who resort to him for instruction, are disappointed by not getting from him what they want. There may be occasions when such disappointed persons set themselves actively against the preaching of the truth. But in spite of their seeming successes it is never possible for them to oppose the Will of Godhead.
The love and the lust, that are practised by men and women in this world, belong to the jurisdiction of Maya. If we seek to measure, dominate or enjoy man or woman, we deprive ourselves of the power of being measured, dominated or enjoyed by Sree Krishna. We become opposed to the worship of Sree Krishna. If we do not worship Sree Krishna we become disposed to enjoy men and women and other enjoyable things of this world. Sree Krishna does not accept anything of this world, i e. anything belonging to the jurisdiction of Maya, for his enjoyment.
Transcendental talk makes its appearance only through the proper medium of a person whose life is wholly dedicated to the service of God. On the other hand service of God cannot also be practised by those who have no access to the plane of transcendence available only through the proper kind of hearing of transcendental talk. The transcendental talk itself is the visible audible body of transcendence. It introduces itself to the transcendental part of our nature. It draws out the spiritual activity of our Unalloyed souls. Such activity alone is service of Godhead. The nature of such activity cannot be understood by those who have no access to its supernatural plane.
It is only after we have been enlightened as to the real nature of Sridhama by the mercy of the Vaisnava that it is possible for us to serve Her rationally and willingly. In the realm of the spirit there is no such thing as ‘blind’ faith. There is no such thing as service of Vaisnavas and the Power Divine except by enlightenment through grace.
The purpose of listening to the Dāmodara-līlā is not to satisfy man’s craving for knowledge. In the heart of those who want to serve, listening can awaken the desire to become, in a future life – through the mercy of God and those who are His Own – a particle of dust under the feet of those who are His Own eternal associates …
Śrī Vaiṣṇavera Varṇāśrama (‘The Varṇāśrama of a Pure Vaiṣṉava’) was first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol. 11. Issue 10 in 1900. In this article, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains how pure Vaiṣṇavas are transcendental to varṇa and āśrama because all of their activities are meant for cultivating kṛṣṇa-bhakti.
Read Śoka-śātana and Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. When Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa, he told his elderly mother, his wife Viṣṇupriyā-devī, and the residents of Navadvīpa: “I am but a human being. I am connected to you in a variety of relationships. When I go, you should establish all those relationships with Kṛṣṇa, instead of with Me, and thereby give Me the chance to serve Hari independently.”